


This Heart-Shaped Gift

by sidsaid



Series: the community service diaries [2]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Christmas, Domestic Fluff, F/M, Fluff, Fluffy, Modern Setting - AU, Reylo - Freeform, Reylo-Freeform, Smut, christmas day with these goobers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-21
Updated: 2018-12-21
Packaged: 2019-09-24 08:41:09
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,765
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17097470
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sidsaid/pseuds/sidsaid
Summary: Rey sighed, her expression dropping lightly as she met Ben’s warm brown gaze, her eyes darting from one to the other, indecisive. ‘You make me doubt everything and I...I’m not scared of that, but I know you are.’‘I’m not,’ he said, as if promising.She shook her head. ‘If you weren’t, you wouldn’t hesitate to believe me. Because you know how I feel, you must know because I can’t hide it.’--- A short look into Rey and Ben's first Christmas together.





	This Heart-Shaped Gift

**Author's Note:**

> This is an ‘epilogue’ to my Christmas story ‘A Home for the Holidays’. It can stand alone, so you don’t need to read that first :)

Rey sighed, feeling the sunlight drift through the gap in the curtains and she groaned, knowing that it was far after nine if the sun was already so high in the sky. They’d slept in when they shouldn’t have.

She sat up, rubbing at her eyes and noted that she still had the Christmas jumper on that Ben had stolen–to burn, she might add–from Maz when she had been distracted at the Friday carolling service. She smirked at the poorly made Santa pattern and stretched lightly.

Ben was lying on his front, his hair a mess and his face dug deeply into his pillow. He murmured something in his sleep and Rey chuckled, leaning closer to hear him.

‘Ben,’ she murmured, her breath fanning against his ear and disturbing his long dark hair.

Rey lifted the duvet, her hand sliding within it to wrap around Ben’s waist, trying to siphon off his warmth as usual and relishing in the feel of his solid body under her touch.

‘What time is it?’ he roused, his head rolling across his pillow.

‘It’s after nine, Merry Christmas.’

He turned, squinting and rubbing his eyes, then he paused, and a smile drew across his face. ‘Merry Christmas.’

Rey grinned, pulling herself over him and hugging his waist tightly in her arms, laying her head against the space between his bare shoulder blades and breathing him in.

‘How are you still so cold when you’re wearing that jumper?’ he questioned. Ben turned, and his arms wrapped around her to gently squeeze her against him. Rey chuckled at the pressure in his arms and she relaxed into the embrace, not wanting to be anywhere else.

‘I’m actually a vampire, this isn’t blood pumping through my veins.’

‘It’s diet coke?’ he suggested.

Rey looked up at him, frowning lightly. ‘Are you judging my coke consumption?’

‘You finished a crate in a week.’

She frowned and huffed. ‘But it’s so good.’

Ben smiled, and he loosened his hold on her. ‘You can always try and fail to drink less for New Year’s.’

‘Would that make you happy?’ she questioned.

‘Just being with you would make me happy,’ he said.

Rey grinned and leaned up, kissing him briefly.

‘What’s the plan for my first Solo-Skywalker Christmas, then?’ she asked, moving her legs from him, but leaving one last kiss on his lips.

‘Well I suppose we should have some breakfast, have a shower.’ Rey nodded along. ‘We’ll be at the soup kitchen until four, and we’ll come back to eat with my mom and uncle and whoever else turns up.’

‘Don’t forget the pie.’

‘Yes, and we’ll eat the various pies you have kindly prepared.’

‘And your input?’ she questioned.

Ben smirked. ‘My charming wit and a cupboard full of booze.’

‘Does Christmas with the Solo-Skywalkers end in me getting drunk?’

He nodded. ‘Once the whole gang's here, of course.’

Rey smiled.

‘And then of course I’ll take you back to bed and we won’t leave until New Year’s Day.’

She chuckled. ‘And what about all of your statutory community service?’

Ben groaned. ‘Fine, until the next day.’

They were both silent, Rey grinning widely as her fingers gently stroked the hair at his chin. Ben’s arms wrapped around her again, pulling her closer to him, her easily sliding across the sheets to meet him.

‘We have time,’ Rey mentioned casually as their lips met.

She sighed happily as she was enveloped in Ben’s warm embrace and he took a deep breath, his eyes closing.

‘Thank you,’ he said, his mouth barely moving.

Rey tilted her head slightly. ‘For what?’

‘For being in my life.’

She chuckled and left a kiss on his jaw. ‘You make me unreasonably happy, do you know that?’ He watched her carefully, trying to catch the slightest glimmer of dishonesty. ‘Even when you’re being insufferable...and even when you look at me like that.’

‘Like what?’ he said quickly, his eyes furrowing.

‘Like it can’t be true.’

Rey sighed, her expression dropping lightly as she met Ben’s warm brown gaze, her eyes darting from one to the other, indecisive. ‘You make me doubt everything and I... I’m not scared of that, but I know you are.’

‘I’m not,’ he said, as if promising.

She shook her head. ‘If you weren’t, you wouldn’t hesitate to believe me. Because you know how I feel, you must know because I can’t hide it.’

Ben swallowed, and he blinked, his eyes moving from her for the briefest of moments.

‘It’s okay, it’s okay,’ she repeated. Ben could feel her hand shake as she reached for his at her waist, but when she pulled it away, she lifted it to her chest instead of what he thought she would do. She smiled then, so wide that Ben was so lost for a moment, thinking she might be angry at him, or at the very least irritated, but she wasn’t, and he knew that. He felt the speedy beat of her heart against his palm and over her jumper.

And he knew it was okay to be like this, to feel this way even though neither of them said it properly, even when he knew they should. He knew it was important.

He sighed, his forehead falling forward to rest on her shoulder as he felt her heart beat beneath his hand, their steady breaths all that could be heard between them.

Eventually Rey’s unsaid thoughts broke through and she chuckled lightly. Before Ben could look back at her, she slid his hand down her waist, beneath her jumper, over the skin of her stomach and then to her breast. She curved his hand against its small weight and their eyes met.

She slid closer to him as his other hand crawled further around her waist and he gently kneaded her, Rey smiling softly, feeling her flesh goose-pimple as the rough skin of his palm grazed against her nipple.

‘Do you think your mother is still sleeping?’

‘I highly doubt it.’

Rey bit her lip, using her free hands to roughly pull down her shorts and then reached for Ben’s loose boxers, easing them over his burgeoning erection that seemed to be egged on by her removing his clothes hastily.

‘Be a good boy and be quiet then,’ Rey responded.

He laughed, loud enough that Rey had to chide him with a look and he abruptly stopped, though the mirth was clear on his face.

‘I’ve got be honest, my mother will know what we are doing, even if we’re not doing it.’

Rey stuck her tongue out at him and Ben licked out at it easily. He squeezed her a little too hard and she groaned, allowing Ben to slip her leg over his and his beneath hers, tangling them together.

He eased into her with a sigh, his face buried in her neck as he pulled her tighter against him, his hand leaving her chest to hold her shoulder tightly and Rey moaned as he bottomed out within her.

She felt his lips against her neck, sucking gently and then soothing the distress on her skin with soft flicks of his tongue. Rey closed her eyes tightly as he thrusted slowly into her, his name in her stomach, her throat and in the air around them.

‘You know how I feel,’ he said easily, as if his mind had opened mid-sex, going back to their previous conversation. ‘I know you do,’ he finished.

He turned to look into her eyes and Rey met his and her irises danced across his face, a smile on her lips. Ben pushed into her again and Rey’s eyes closed, a throaty gasp leaving her mouth.

She murmured his name again as he put more force into his actions, Rey’s pitch increasing as he did until she was biting his shoulder to stop her words becoming screams. Ben stopped for a moment, pulling out and turning her in his hands, her backside pressed against his front as he resumed, a hand moving to her tits and another to where they met.

Rey cried out with nothing to stop her moans and bit her lip and then the pillow at her side as Ben’s middle finger leisurely swirled around her nub, rubbed a nipple between forefinger and thumb and pumped into her.

Her hands folded over his and Ben grunted, his nose at her neck as he inhaled. Her hands could feel how he assaulted her clit and directed his attentions on her chest. She felt the room move around her as she grew closer to her end and she told him, over and over again that she was close.

‘Just come,’ he whispered against her ear and she did, clenching hard around him and feeling herself pulse and empty, her cry only slightly muffled by the pillow.

Ben continued on, his fingers not stopping and Rey’s grip on the hand on her chest tightened as she grew delirious, being overstimulated through her orgasm and extending it until the pillow didn’t help and she was keening, feeling a second orgasm building painfully quickly.

‘I know you can do it,’ Ben murmured, and she could hear the smirk in his voice. ‘Just one more time.’

Rey moaned, trying to pull his hand away from her for just a moment, but he didn’t budge. He left wet kisses against her neck and shoulder and Rey shivered, feeling her eyes roll back as his thrusts grew ragged and random.

His finger flicked against her once more and she came again, crying out around him. He groaned, the sound clear against the shell of her ear and she felt him spurt within her, her pulsating walls pulling him further into her.

Ben’s hand lifted to her stomach and he kissed her shoulder and Rey sighed, liking being full of him again, even as he pulled from her.

She turned, kissing him generously, wanting to taste him as her tongue slipped past his lips to claim his mouth, and she crossed her legs around his waist, pulling him tightly to her until he complained that her grip was too tight.

‘Maybe I should have gotten us a hotel room for Christmas,’ he murmured.

Rey laughed and shook her head. ‘Knowing you, you’d get carried away and spend all of your money on a suite.’

‘I have enough money for an Emperor suite,’ he complained. ‘It’s also what you deserve.’ He added, nuzzling into her neck, kissing her clavicle and sucking on the skin their briefly. ‘You’re my Empress.’ He looked up at her, grinning. ‘I’m just your lowly servant.’

She rolled her eyes, and loosened her hold on him, kicking him away as he laughed.

Rey rolled out of the bed, looking briefly back at Ben with a frown as she stood, slipping her ankles out of her shorts and then pulling the jumper from her body.

‘Do you want me to wash your back?’ Ben called, his face in the pillow again.

‘Surely that should be your duty,’ Rey answered, slipping into the bathroom and turning the shower on. ‘We’ll also save water.’

Ben groaned a bit, wanting to go back to sleep, but he eventually got up. He yawned as he heard the toilet flush and he walked in just as Rey stepped into the shower.

‘Don’t you dare do it,’ she said as she closed the door behind her.

‘I can’t imagine what you mean.’

She turned, and Ben could see her glare through the water splattered glass. He looked to her briefly, his hand hovering over the flushing mechanism.

‘You’ll regret it,’ she called easily, tapping at the glass.

He pulled it anyway, and Rey’s jaw dropped before she felt the water go cold and she screamed—louder than when she had orgasmed.

‘Ben Solo, you absolute twat.’

Ben just grinned, moving to the shower door, pulling it open, and sliding in beside Rey. She was frowning still but he smiled, dipping his head under the stream of water and letting it cascade across his shoulders and down his broad chest. He reached around her in the small space, grabbing for the shampoo and squirting some on her head and then on his own.

Despite her frown, she reached up to massage the shampoo into her hair, Ben doing the same.

‘I won’t shower here anymore if you do that every time,’ she commented simply.

He grinned and took over lathering the soap in her hair, his short nails grazing across her scalp in a way that made Rey want to stop looking at him with annoyance. ‘I don’t think the smell would change anything.’

She halted, her nose scrunching up. ‘So that will be my first new fact of the day about Ben Solo. Even if I smelled like day old garbage, you’d still fuck me.’

He smiled and leant towards her, kissing her quickly. ‘You’re just as bad, don’t lie.’

Rey snorted and allowed Ben to continue washing her hair before he pushed her lightly under the stream. He followed her, rinsing the soap away from his hair and then reaching for the shower gel and her sponge. Rey turned, letting him lather it up in his hands and rub it into her skin, and around her waist. His fingers slipped against her tits, purposefully drifting across her nipples, which grew taut underneath his touch.

She leaned into his chest, her eyes closing as she bit down on her lip and one of his hands slid across her stomach and between her legs, causing her to snap out of it and move away from him.

‘Stop distracting me, Benjamin,’ she said easily, turning and gathering a dollop of shower gel herself and soaping up his skin with the other sponge.

He frowned, but stood still, letting Rey rub soap into his chest and stomach, before he turned, and she reached for his back and thoroughly rubbed it into his spine, and over his ass. ‘Hypocrite,’ he mumbled, but Rey clucked her tongue, grabbing more soap as she continued her work on his legs.

When she finished and had hung up the sponge she had used, Ben added more soap to the one still in his hand and he waited as Rey lifted a bent leg to him, which he held as he ran the sponge from the apex of her thighs down to her toes.

‘I bought a new outfit for dinner,’ she said casually, lifting her other leg.

‘Hmm?’ he looked up at her, his eyes having grown distracted on her nude body, particularly on her toned legs. ‘Nobody will see it with your coat on,’ he commented.

Rey rolled her eyes, taking the sponge from him and putting it back on the shelf before turning off the water. ‘Not for the soup kitchen, for tonight.’

Ben nodded, opened the shower door and reached for their towels, wrapping Rey’s around her first, and pulling his across his arms and chest first before he wrapped it around his waist. Rey was already shivering, so he grabbed another towel from the cupboard, beginning to gently dry her hair with it.

‘You’re really excited, aren’t you?’ Ben asked, holding the towel around her neck so he could look into her eyes.

Rey nodded with a happy smile. ‘I’ve been looking forward to this ever since you asked me. It’ll be...it’ll be special, you know?’

‘No,’ he shook his head, beginning to rub the towel against her hair again. ‘It’ll end up being the new normal, I told you that already.’

She beamed and practically jumped into Ben’s arms, her own squeezing his neck tightly. ‘You should stop promising me everything, Ben,’ she murmured, but didn’t let go.

Eventually they separated long enough to get dressed and dry their hair, and they found his mother downstairs drinking coffee at the island in the kitchen, flipping through a magazine. Ben made a quick breakfast of scrambled eggs for them all, of which Rey asked for seconds and thirds and they left for the soup kitchen, deciding to walk in the brisk weather.

They were only a few minutes late, having walked unusually slow, both talking erratically about Holden Caulfield and the ducks in Central Park. When they eventually arrived, Kay and Dom swooped them both into a group hug, of which Ben was surprised to be a part of.

The two had already set up the tables for the food, which was still retaining its heat in large warming trays. There was an assortment of food ranging from roast turkey, a vegan nut roast, roast potatoes, vegetables, stuffing and vats of gravy and a tank of mulled wine. The dessert table was much the same, with a variety of pies across its expanse.

Dom and Ben handled the main meal, Kay the sides and Rey the desserts. When the doors were eventually opened they had a steady stream of the usual faces, though there were a few new who they all greeted with fondness.

Rey decided that the dessert table could sort itself out, and she begun to rotate around the room, sitting down to speak with the visitors while they chatted among themselves and ate, wishing them all a Merry Christmas.

‘I’m glad you’re both here today,’ Kay murmured from beside Ben as she spooned more greens into a plate with a smile.

‘I thought you hated me,’ Ben replied easily, finding that his usual reaction to anything Kay said was unnecessary honesty.

Kay hummed lightly to herself and shook her head. ‘I let go of that a while back. I couldn’t hate you forever,’ she said with a small chuckle, glancing at Dom quickly. ‘Though don’t think that I like you enough to be a witness on our ketubah,’ she added.

Ben chuckled and shook his head. ‘Absolutely not.’

‘Though it’s good you’re here, even when I know that you don’t have a choice. And I think it’s good for Rey.’ Kay paused, a frown seeming to appear and disappear quickly along her brow. ‘She’s spent the last three Christmases here with us and I’ve not liked it. We don’t celebrate, so today is no different as any other day for us, but for Rey...Christmas has a lot of meaning behind it and we haven’t been able to be her family.’ Kay laughed then, looking over at Rey. ‘I don’t know how, but you already seem like her family and I’m thankful.’

‘Does that mean I get to be her plus one at your wedding?’

Kay rolled her eyes, but she grinned, and Dom leant over, having heard the magic words.

‘We’ll think about it.’

Kay grinned, and went back to spooning vegetables into plates, glancing up and meeting Rey’s suspicious expression.

Ben continued on, his heart feeling light.

It had just gone four when lunch ended, and the leftovers had been given out in small containers and the two pairs made their separate ways. Dom and Kay going to visit Dom’s parents, while Ben and Rey walked back to Ben’s house.

They could hear laughter before they were even through the door and they entered to see several coats stuffed in the cupboard under the stairs and boots lined up on the shoe stand.

Rey hesitated to lead which surprised Ben, so he walked ahead once they had shed their outer wear and he opened the living area to see it full already.

There were choruses of heys as they entered, and Leia looked up at her son with a bright smile.

‘Well I didn’t expect it’d be so busy already, at least they aren’t drunk yet,’ Ben whispered against Rey’s ear.

She grinned, and Ben looked around at the familiar faces.

‘This is Rey,’ he said and they all grinned, his uncle Lando waggling his eyebrows conspiratorially.

Leia stood on shaky legs then and took Rey’s hand. ‘I’ll introduce you properly,’ she started, reaching to connect Rey’s hand with each person she introduced her to. ‘All of you rowdy lot, this is Rey, my future daughter-in-law—.’ Ben protested almost immediately, but Rey said nothing. ‘This suspicious looking scoundrel is Lando, the man who looks like a fish is Gial, heavy beardo weirdo is Chewie and the most beautiful woman who ever lived, is Amilyn.’

Ben was dragged into the room by Chewie, who stood, towering over Ben even and squeezed him into a tight hug. The others took the opportunity to greet Ben with bear hugs too, leaving him half winded and ruffled, only allowing it considering he had been avoiding them all for years.

‘No Luke yet?’ Rey asked, her eyes scanning the room once more as she smiled at them all.

‘He’s running a bit late.

Lando scoffed. ‘We’re better than Luke anyway. Grab a drink and sit!’

‘We’ve got to change first,’ Ben said quickly.

Rey nodded reluctantly and followed Ben out, her smile not failing her.

‘You’re not overwhelmed yet?’

She shook her head with a grin, already ready to take the stairs two at a time so she could get dressed quickly.

The braids were out of her hair in seconds and she was fluffing her waves, turning herself upside down to do so. Ben watched her as he changed out of his jumper into a button-down, a smirk at his lips. Rey slipped from her jumper and jeans and removed the dress that she’d hung in Ben’s wardrobe—a dark-blue, knee-length number, with long sleeves and a skirt which splayed out from her waist with a delicate bow.

Rey pulled herself into it and then she stood in front of Ben with her arms spread wide.

‘Beautiful as usual.’ He stole a kiss and finished with his buttons.

She hopped down the stairs, her nose pulling her towards the kitchen before she went back to the living room, and she found that the turkey was in its final stages while other things simmered on the stove or sat roasting in the other oven.

‘You look hungry.’

Rey spun on her heel, not knowing the voice who the words belonged to. Though she did recognise the face, though older and more weathered from the single picture he sat in, in Ben’s house, it was the same man that Ben called his uncle.

‘You’re Luke!’ She said automatically, holding her hand out.

He smiled, and his blue eyes seemed to crinkle as he did. ‘And you’re the woman I’ve heard so much about.’

‘From Leia?’

He seemed to catch her meaning and he chuckled lightly. ‘Yes, Ben tends not to update me on his love life.’

‘I’ve wanted to meet you,’ Rey said honestly, glancing at the door, wondering if anybody else knew that Luke was in the house.

Luke scratched his beard. ‘Why is that?’

‘I don’t know,’ she begun, meeting his eye. ‘The way Ben spoke about you, I just felt that I needed to meet you.’

He smiled warmly. ‘You like him a lot, don’t you?’

Rey could only nod, already feeling her heart beat twice as fast at the thought.

‘You think he’ll get fired for breaking that guys face?’

She laughed and shook her head. ‘I think if he wants to leave, that will have to be him who makes that decision.’ Rey paused. ‘Why do you ask?’

Luke shrugged lightly and reached into a cupboard for a glass. ‘Maybe it’ll give him an excuse to talk to me. Ask me for a job.’

Rey smiled, and she heard Ben’s hurried steps down the stairs and he called out to her softly after peaking into the living room.

‘I’m in the kitchen,’ she responded, and he approached, though slowed when he saw his uncle.

‘How are you doing, kiddo?’ Luke said with a smile.

Ben stopped at the door, holding onto its edge lightly and nodding. ‘Good,’ he paused and looked to Rey, who was just grinning. ‘Did mom tell you?’

‘That you got community service for punching someone in the face?’ Luke queried with a nod. ‘Yep, and about Rey.’

‘What about Rey?’ Ben asked quickly, and Rey could see his jaw clench.

Rey snorted, and he looked to her. ‘Well it’s hardly going to be anything dramatic, is it Benjamin?’

‘Yes, Benjamin.’ His uncle mimicked.

Ben’s face relaxed and he leaned up from the door post.

‘It’s good to see you Ben, I’ve missed you,’ Luke said simply, holding his hand out for Ben to take, which he took, and was then dragged into a hug by the smaller man.

Rey smiled and moved away from them to take a closer look at the cooking food, and at all the items that lay across the counter: potato salad, greens, cranberry sauce. She’d had Christmas dinner before, but never such an expansive spread of dishes and not like this. When she knelt to look at the turkey resting in the cold oven, she felt the tell-tale prick in her eyes and she bit it back, trying to stop herself.

‘I’m just going to get some air,’ she said briskly to the two of them, who were attempting small talk. ‘So, carry on,’ she said, speeding past them to grab her coat, shove her feet into her boots and open the front door.

By the time she had closed it behind her, she could feel the tears, chilling in the wind and burning her cheeks. She took several breaths and stepped down the stairs, attempting not to slip on the ice on the sidewalk.

Rey never thought it would be so overwhelming and her chest ached because Ben wanted her here, and they were all so happy to see her. And Rey couldn’t ever remember feeling this wanted before and the tears came harder, reminding her that Ben wanted her to never be alone on Christmas again.

She shook her head, trying to calm herself, yet it was becoming increasingly difficult as she remembered how she felt, how her heart felt so light and happy and the feeling was heady and so uncomplicated, yet so new.

Her feet took her a few paces from the house, her hands stuck deep in her pockets to fend off the cold and she took several breaths, just watching the air crystallise around her, attempting to calm her tears. She was almost there, she thought. She just needed one more minute.

Then there were footsteps behind her and she sighed lightly, not wanting to be caught crying.

‘Rey, where are you going?’ His voice was tight, as if he were scared.

She shook her head, not turning. ‘I’m not going anywhere,’ and her voice was strained, she couldn’t cover that.

His hand reached to her arm and Rey shook her head slightly. ‘I’m okay, I just wanted to have some fresh air for a second, you can go back inside.’

Ben’s fingers did not pull away, noticing the slight shake in her shoulders. And Rey really wanted to run and hide for just a little bit, yet she couldn’t when Ben wrapped his arms around her, pulling her backwards into his warm chest.

‘You’re shaking,’ he murmured. ‘Are you okay?’

Rey sniffled, her hands reaching to his arms, gripping them and she turned in his embrace, her arms slipping under his and she squeezed him tightly, feeling her shudders stop.

‘You don’t have to say anything.’ His words were welcome, and Rey sighed, her tears stopping, drying against the material of Ben’s coat.

‘I’m okay, really.’ She looked into his face and Ben could see that her eyes were still wet, and a little bit red, but he believed her.

Ben smiled, pulling back lightly and his warm hands reached for her face. ‘You scared me. For a second I thought you were going to run away.’

‘Without even a snack for the road?’ she questioned. ‘Never.’

He kissed her then. His lips pressed warmly against hers for a moment before he pulled back and left a kiss on her nose and forehead. Her arms held steadfastly to his waist, so so warm in his arms and feeling her heart ache with the idea of it.

‘I love you,’ she whispered, unable to help herself, unable to stop herself.

It was too soon. Yet her eyes did not break from his and for this she didn’t want to run away.

There wasn’t more than a beat before he replied. ‘I love you too.’

And it felt like there was a tension that had been loosened between them. The unsaid words finally spoken and they both let out heavy sighs.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoyed. Comments and kudos are always welcome.


End file.
